This invention is directed to a seal or cap which is capable of forming a fluid tight seal against the top of a cylindrical neck of a container or bottle. The seal includes a plurality of sealing members having acute surfaces which engage one another to form the fluid tight seal.
In vessels or containers utilized in research and/or medical applications, it is often times necessary to form fluid tight seals on the top of these containers, with the seals formed of materials which are essentially resistant to corrosive and/or hard to contain materials or materials which can maintain sterility conditions. The old "cork in the bottle" type seal is very inefficient against any pressure build up within the interior of the bottle or container and must be formed of a fairly deformable material such as rubber or cork. These materials are not very resistant against chemicals or the like and as such simply are not suitable.
Screw caps, while being resistant to being blown off of the bottle or container by pressure within the container, require that the container also be threaded. Further, if the caps are made of chemically resistant plastics, they are subject to stress along the joining portion of the top part of the cap with the threaded flange portion when the cap is screwed excessively tight on to the container. Often times when so tightly stressed, the caps will break, with the top part of the cap separating from the threaded portion.
Metal "swagelok" caps are also known; however, the metallic materials from which these are made are not suitable for containing certain fluids which are incompatible with these metallic materials.
The fluorocarbon material known under the trademark Teflon.TM. is essentially inert with respect to most chemical reagents, fluids or gasses. Further, it is highly resistant to "wetting" by liquids and gasses such that these liquids and gasses are resistant to movement across the Teflon.TM. material by capillary action. Because of its low chemical reactivity in combination with its plastic or deformable properties, Teflon.TM. is very "slippery" with respect to other materials. For this reason, corks or plugs of Teflon.TM. material tend not to stick in the openings or mouths of bottles, vessels or other containers. Because of its plasticity or deformability, threads on caps or the like made of Teflon.TM. are easily stripped and as such, are not useful in situations where adequate seals must be maintained within pressure bottles, reagent bottles or the like.